February 20, 2012

Your title is the very first tool you have for engaging your reader. A well-crafted title can mean the difference between a successful article distribution and one that hardly gets read.

Problem solving titles are excellent for attracting the attention of readers and search engines because the title itself mirrors the type of thing your readers would be searching for in the first place.

Think about it – when people do Google searches, they are usually looking for the answer to a question or the solution to a problem. In order to get your article into the “hands” of these searchers, you need to make it very clear (in your title) that your article provides the answer or the solution to that particular question or problem.

Long-tail keywords are longer phrases (usually 3-8 words long) that are usually pretty specific. They may even start with the words “how to,” indicating that the person searching is trying to find out how to do something.

They may also just state a problem or solution that a person is looking for, such as “Sell Your House Fast.” When you have a long-tail keyword term like that, you can either have a title that is just “Sell Your House Fast,” or you can add more information to that phrase, for example: “Sell Your House Fast: 5 Tips For A Quick Closing.”

You can even create several problem solving articles that have that same long-tail keyword term in them, for example:

Sell Your House Fast: 3 Home Improvements That Will Attract More Buyers

Sell Your House Fast: Finding The Right Real Estate Agent

And so on…

Long-tail keywords are perfect for using in your titles and for your article topics. If one of your long-tail keyword phrases is “how to fix a flat tire,” then you can write an article on that topic with the title “How To Fix A Flat Tire.”

Many times people will just type a question into Google. The question in itself can form the basis of a great title.

The idea is to proactively create content that provides the solution to questions that your target readers are asking.

2 – Problem Solving Titles Go Great With Google

When you can create a title that mirrors (or almost mirrors) what your target readers are searching for in Google, you’re helping Google to associate your article with that search, which results in a higher ranking for your article when someone searches for that phrase.

A straightforward problem solving headline is more effective than a clever title that leaves the reader wondering what the article is about. If the reader isn’t clear on the exact topic of the article, neither is Google!

Now, you can’t create this type of title with every long-tail keyword phrase on your list – sometimes you’ll need to tweak the phrase or add onto it to make it make sense and provide enough information.

Your Homework:

1 – First off, you need to do long-tail keyword research.

This shouldn’t take very long – just use Google’s free keyword tool. Where appropriate, you might take some of your shorter keyword phrases and enter them into Google’s keyword tool putting the words ‘How To’ in front of them, and see what you come up with.

2 – For your next 3 articles, focus on writing these different types of problem solving titles:

=> Write a problem solving ‘How To’ title.
=> Write a problem solving ‘Top Tips’ title.
=> Write a title that is a question (based off what your target market is searching for in Google).

Then, write articles that satisfy what the title promised. In that way, you’ll be creating helpful content that your readers really need, while at the same time phrasing the title in such a way that it’s easy for Google and your readers to find your article.

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